Nigerian In UK Caught In 4 Million Pounds Biggest Education Fraud

Samuel Kayode, 57, was an
accountant at Haberdashers'
Aske's academies
• Under investigation after
£4million of school funds
ended up in his accounts
• Alleged to have spent much
of cash on extravagant lifestyle
and properties
• The High Court case is
believed to be Britain's biggest
ever education fraud
An accountant at a chain of
academies championed by
Michael Gove is at the centre of
a fraud investigation after
£4million of school funds
ended up in his personal
accounts.
Nigerian-born Samuel Kayode
is said to have spent much of
the cash on an extravagant
lifestyle and buying a string of
properties.
The 57-year-old part-time
pastor was told by the High
Court to pay £4.1million back
to the Haberdashers’ Aske’s
chain of academies more than
a year ago.
He has failed to do so, and it is
feared most of the cash has
been transferred to Nigeria.
The case, kept secret for
almost two years, is believed
to be Britain’s biggest ever
education fraud.
Although Kayode was arrested
in October 2012, police have
yet to charge him with any
crime.
Critics of academies – state
schools which have control of
their own finances – say the
massive loss of cash calls that
entire system into question.
Questions were also asked
about whether Mr Gove – who
lost his job as Education
Secretary last week – took
close enough interest in the
case.
The vast sum of money is
missing from the
Haberdashers’ Aske’s
Federation Trust in South
London.
It is named after 17th century
silk merchant Robert Aske who
left much of his wealth to
create an educational charity
fund run by the Worshipful
Company of Haberdashers.
The Haberdashers’ Aske’s
public schools for boys and
girls in Hertfordshire were
founded with his money.
Three Haberdashers’ Aske’s
state secondaries in South-
East London – Hatcham
College, Knight’s Academy and
Crayford Academy – are run by
the trust as a separate
charitable wing funded by Mr
Aske’s endowment. They were
often referred to by Mr Gove in
speeches.
Kayode went to work at
Hatcham in 1997 and rose to
become accounts manager for
the whole chain.
He was paid £57,000 a year,
and told colleagues of his work
as a pastor in the Christ
Apostolic Church, South
London, peppering his
conversations with ‘praise the
Lord’.
In October 2012 it emerged
that a large sum of money was
missing from the academies’
funds.
Kayode’s assets and those of
his wife Grace, who died aged
53 last year, were then frozen.
It appeared that huge sums of
school money had been paid
into a bank account in Nigeria
and a company called Samak,
which is said to be run in
Nigeria by Kayode’s second
wife Yoni, although he denies
any wedding has taken place.
The trust launched a High
Court case to reclaim the
missing cash but the
accountant denied wrongdoing
and claimed ‘all transactions
had been authorised by the
finance director’.
However, the judge found in
the trust’s favour last July and
ordered Kayode and the estate
of his late wife to pay back
more than £4million plus
interest.
He remains at large and is not
facing any charges, although
he is due to speak to detectives
again this week.
A Metropolitan Police
spokesman would say only
that a man from Lambeth was
on police bail.
Adrian Percival, chief executive
of Haberdashers’ Aske’s
Federation Trust, said: ‘The
civil case found in favour of the
federation and we are trying to
recover the money that has
been taken from us. We are
obviously shocked and
saddened.’
But furious parents say
Haberdashers’ Aske’s has tried
to hush the scandal up.
Jill Rutter, who has several
children at the Hatcham
academy, said in an online
blog: ‘The fraud strikes at the
heart of the educational
establishment and shows that
the current system and the
freedom afforded to academies
is not working. Ultimately it is
our children that suffer.’
Kayode’s boss at
Haberdashers’ Aske’s, former
chief finance officer Paul
Durgan, is now working for a
new academies chain.
He said: ‘Sam Kayode
completely had me taken, like
everybody else. Nobody from
the police or school has
spoken to me.’

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The police tortured & forced me to confess to the murder of Cynthia Osokogu-Key suspect claims

Ok this is taking a disturbing turn. The key suspect in late Cynthia Osokogu's murder trial,Nwabufo is now claiming he was tortured to admit to her murder.

According to a report by Channels TV,The defendant, Okwumo Nwabufo 34,In his evidence, Nwabufo told the trial judge, Justice Olabisi Akinlade that he had been dating Cynthia for over one year before her death.According to him, he and Cynthia had met more than five times before she was murdered.However, Nwabufo insisted that the alleged confessional statement made by him was made under duress stressing that he was tortured by the police.

He said

 “On the day I was arrested, up to 20 policemen broke into my apartment and asked for my name after which they called me a murderer and started beating me. I was later blindfolded while I was putting on only pant and taken to FESTAC police station for interrogation’’.

He said “when we got to the police station, I was taken to the Area Commander, Mr Dan Okoro’s office who showed me a lady’s picture and asked if I knew her. I said yes, she is my friend and he immediately called me a murderer while he used plyer to pinch my left eye.
“I was then taken to a room where I was chained and tortured to accept whatever they (the police) told us concerning the murder. I was chained and hung upside-down, like a roasted chicken’’ 

,” Nwabufo further explained that it was during this torture that the police brought out a suspect and shot him on the leg to show that they would shoot us if we don’t comply.“One of the policemen released tear-gas into my left eye and I have not been able to see with it since then,” he said.

Nwabufo further told the court that it was the torture that led to the statement which was being dictated to him at different times.The suspects are alleged to have chained and strangled 25-year-old Osokogu to death at Cosmilla Hotel, FESTAC Town, Lagos, on July 22, 2012.

I PRAY real justice is found soon

Sex hawker bags three-month jail over re-arraignment

Chief Magistrate A. O. Awogboro of the Tinubu Magistrates’ Court, Lagos, on Monday sentenced a sex worker, Ene Emmanuel, to three months imprisonment with hard labour for re-appearing before the court.

Awogboro said she took the decision after the accused had appeared before her, bearing a different name and committing the same offence.

Emmanuel, 21, was facing a one-count charge of engaging in sex hawking.

Earlier, the Prosecutor, Chidi Okoye, told the court that the accused committed the offence at about 2am on November 8 on Victoria Island.

“On the previous arraignment, the accused had presented herself as ‘Josephine Ogu’ which was a false name,”  Okoye said.

Sentencing Emmanuel, Awogboro said, “I sentence the accused to three months imprisonment with hard labour for the crime committed.”

Billionaire businessman Jimoh Ibrahim arrested over N6.8b tax fraud

According to a report by Sahara Reporters, the Special Enforcement Unit of Federal Inland Revenue Service has arrested billionaire businessman, Jimoh Ibrahim, over a tax fraud that runs into N6.8b.

Sources within the unit told Saharareporters that Mr. Ibrahim was picked up today and is currently under detention at the offices of the agency.

According to one source, “We are investigating a case where Chief Ibrahim, defrauded the federal government to the tune of N6.8 billion. He is in our custody, we take intend to take a statement from the suspect under caution”, he added.

One of our sources said Mr. Mr. Ibrahim have been evading agents of the unit for some time but disclosed that the eventually caught up with him in his hotel room in NICON Luxury Hotel where he was arrested this afternoon in Abuja.

Chaos on Ajah Road in Lagos as trailer kills five school children

There's serious pandemonium on Ajah Road in Lagos as you read this. Area boys and passers-by are clashing with policemen after a trailer crushed five students as they were crossing the road. The sad incident happened close to Ikota Primary School and the dead pupils are believed to be making their way to the school when they were killed. The tanker driver abandoned his truck and escaped.

The people protesting are insisting they won't leave the area until Governor Fashola shows up. They are blaming the gruesome accident on the lack of a pedestrian bridge in the area. The two express lanes have been blocked by the angry protesters which has caused heavy traffic in the area. There's heavy police presence in the are. Will keep y'all updated. 

Women Molested, Vehicles Vandalised At Ibadan Carnival - Naijaswap

Mayhem was unleashed in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, penultimate Friday morning, when no fewer than 40 commercial buses and private cars were vandalised by hoodlums who hijacked a night carnival holding at Idikan area of the city. About 10 people were also reported to have been wounded in the fracas, which happened in the early hours of the day, while some of the female victims were reportedly assaulted sexually. It was learnt that the carnival, which was organised by youths in the area, went on peacefully until about 10pm when some hoodlums descended on them unprovoked, thereby bringing the fun-filled carnival to an abrupt end. The youth and some adults gathered around First Baptist Church at Idikan for the carnival.

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Eyewitnesses told The Nation that the trouble makers were overpowered and repelled successfully, but that they later came back about midnight, this time, heavily armed with guns, machetes and other dangerous weapons, with which they freely attacked anyone on sight, including some women who they sexually assaulted.



It was learnt that policemen stormed the area following report of the brawl by residents, but that the few policemen retreated when they could not overpower the hoodlums on their return after their initial defeat.



This time, the hoodlums descended on vehicles parked in the area and vandalised about 50. They include commercial buses and private cars belonging to both residents and participants at the carnival. They were parked at both sides of the road at Idikan and the adjoining areas – Ayeye and Opooyeosa. They also ransacked and stole money and valuables from the vehicles.



When The Nation visited the scene of the ugly incident, residents were reluctant to speak with our reporters as they were still living in the fear of a deadly return of the attackers. Many shops were still closed in the area.



But no fewer than four police vans were seen patrolling the street to ensure security of life and property.



An eyewitness, who spoke to our reporters on condition of anonymity, said about 10 women were either sexually assaulted or wounded in the fracas, but preferred not to report to the police due to the shame attached to the act.



When asked about the vandalised vehicles, she said they had been taken away by their owners for repairs after the Chairman of Ibadan Northwest Local Government, Mr Wasiu Olatunbosun, promised to give the victims N20,000 each to help ease the cost of repairs.



One of the victims, Mr Tunde Kazeem, whose Volkswagen Golf was damaged, told The Nation that the hoodlums stormed the area a few minutes after midnight and damaged the vehicles parked at both sides of the roads despite the fact that their owners were not at the carnival.



He noted that they were frightened to come out and confront them because it was late, adding that they called the police but they did not respond to their distress call immediately.



“We did not want to challenge them when they were destroying our cars because they were heavily armed and they may kill us in the process. The government should ban all these irrelevant carnivals outright. We do not want them again,” he said.



Lamenting the illegal raiding and arrest of the innocent youth in the area by the police, Sola Sonubi said that many youths have since fled the area as police men are parading the streets, arresting innocent people and beating up the youths.



He also disclosed though Mr Olatunbosun had banned carnivals and night parties in the council, some youths still held another carnival on Monday.



Sonubi urged the state government to ban carnivals and ensure compliance among residents.



But, Alhaji Kamil Badru, a landlord of over 35 years in the area, described the fracas as “hell,” noting that the boys are cultists who need to be apprehended on time in order to safeguard lives and property.



Ten suspects have been arrested by the police over the incident.



The state’s Acting Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), ASP Inyeng Ignatius, said those arrested would be prosecuted if they are found culpable in the fracas. “We don’t want to punish innocent persons, so thorough investigation will be carried out and after that those found to be directly involved will be prosecuted,“ he said.



He added: “People were picked at random and that is why we don’t want to punish innocent ones, thorough investigation will be conducted.”



When contacted, Olatunbosun alleged that the attack was politically motivated. He said some opposition politicians are bent on creating the impression that the city is not safe, hence they sponsored the attack during Sallah period when many indigenes came to celebrate with their family from all parts of the country.



“From my investigations, those hoodlums were not from our local government. It was politically motivated. They were bent on creating the impression that the city is not safe, but they will never succeed. God’s hand is in the progress being made in Oyo State and whoever wants to stand against God cannot succeed.”



The council boss pledged to ensure that culprits were prosecuted to serve as deterrent.



He promised to assist those whose cars were vandalised during the attack.